Pumpkin in Springtime

I've alluded to this in previous posts, but I'll say it straight up right now: I am trying to get away from refined carbohydrates, namely sugar and white flour. So when I saw this recipe, I decided that I had to give it a try. There is no flour or sugar, and, with the right ingredients, it can be gluten-free as well. As a side note, I don't mention gluten free recipes because I actually care about eating gluten-free. It's simply for the sad celiacs in our midst. Seriously, eating gluten-free if you don't have a gluten allergy is a waste of money and precious calories that could be used to eat pizza and french bread. 

Muffins are the stuff of life.

One key change I made to this recipe was that I did not blend the oats. My blender was simply not up to the challenge of pureeing a quart of slimy pumpkin batter so I just mixed in the appropriate amount of oats. The only thing that would prompt me to go through the effort of blending the mixture in batches would be if I had an aversion to the texture of oats, but happily this is not the case. If you, like I, don't have a problem with what is essentially oatmeal in muffin form, then don't bother with the blender.

Now, this recipe has some odd proportions. It calls for 1 cup of pumpkin, but those small cans of pumpkin (aka the normal-sized ones as opposed to the jumbo cans that make, like, 5 pies) have 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin. So naturally I'm like, "What the heck am I supposed to do with 1/2 cup of leftover pumpkin?" Srsly. Consequently, I did one-and-a-half batches to make the proportions a little more sensible. Here's my version:

1 1/2 c (or two 6 oz individual yogurt cups) plain greek yogurt
1 15 oz can pumpkin
3/4 c honey or agave nectar (if you really want, you could substitue this for roughly 1-1 1/2 c sugar)
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or you could use this recipe for pumpkin pie spice if you don't have the premade stuff. If you're missing an ingredient or two, as long as you have the cinnamon, you won't notice much of a difference in this recipe)
3 1/4 c oats

Blend the liquid ingredients, mix in the dry stuff, throw it all in a greased muffin tin or two, and bake it in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Just as a heads up, these are not the dessert-like muffins from Costco. These could actually be considered a part of a balanced meal. Consequently, they don't rise very much (meaning they're not light and fluffy) and they're not overly sweet. If you can't handle that, try sprinkling some sugar on top before baking or spread on more honey before consumption. That being said, I found them to be moist and delicious, so go ahead and give 'em a try. The above recipe makes about 14 muffins and should take 30 to 40 minutes from start to finish.

On another note, how do you feel about JT's big comeback? Not sure? Well, check it out.